


The Man in Red

by DeadlyChildArtemis



Series: Canon but with more Olivarry [1]
Category: Arrow (TV 2012), The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Barry has no idea what effect he has on the Queen family, Cute Children, Fluff, M/M, Pre-Relationship, Pre-Slash, could be seen as friendship but come on, two dorks in denial
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-14
Updated: 2016-01-14
Packaged: 2018-05-13 21:21:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 983
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5717527
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DeadlyChildArtemis/pseuds/DeadlyChildArtemis
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Oliver heads back to Central City to visit his son, a certain speedster asks him to swing by the lab first.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Man in Red

**Author's Note:**

> This fic was inspired by a tumblr post (that I couldn't find the link to) that essentially said "headcannon that since Barry knows Oliver doesn't have a toy, he makes one for William."  
> If you know what post I'm talking about, please leave a link in the comment section!

It was a few days after New Year’s that Oliver visited the Clayton’s for the second time. Samantha had expressly told him not to come on Christmas. Oliver understood how difficult this whole situation must be for her, he really did, but he wished he could be a bigger part of his son’s life. 

There was only one person Oliver had told about his little trip to Central City, and he had requested Oliver to visit him first. So before Oliver went to visit his son, he snuck into the forensics lab of the CCPD. 

He found the lab empty, with a few computers running sample tests. Of course Barry would be late to a meeting in his own lab, Oliver thought with a roll of his eyes. 

A few minutes later, Barry walked in, grinning sheepishly when he caught sight of Oliver waiting patiently at his desk. 

“You’re late, Barry,” he said, in what was now a standard greeting for them. 

“Sorry,” Barry replied, holding up a bag of Big Belly Burger. “I went on a food run. Not a literal run, people are starting to figure out that the dude who’s always taking food and leaving money on the counters is the Flash.”

Oliver took this fact about Barry’s foodsnatching habits in stride. “So, what did you want me to come over for?”

“Oh!” Barry moved past him, dropping his bag on his desk and opening a drawer to reveal a small present wrapped in brown paper with a large red ribbon around it. “I, um, got a present. For William. I heard he was into action figures?”

Oliver grinned, picking up the box. “It’s not a Flash figure, is it?” he asked. “Because I’m pretty sure he already has one.”

Barry laughed. “No, I’d feel weird buying an action figure of myself. I’m pretty sure he doesn’t have one of these, though.” He gave Oliver a gentle shove. “Now go! Don’t be late for him!”

 

“Hey, William,” Oliver greeted. It was strange, going from battling evil magicians to greeting the ten-year-old son he only found out about a few weeks ago. They were in William’s room, once again. There were a few scraps of torn wrapping paper on the floor 

William looked over and smiled, reverently putting down his Flash figure and casually tossing aside his Captain Cold figure. “Hello, Oliver.”

“I know Christmas was a few days ago,” Oliver said, crouching down. “So I got you a present.” He passed over both his gift, a flat, unwrapped box with a green bow on top, and Barry/s present. 

“Thanks,” William said as he opened the flat package. His polite smile transformed into a grin as he held up a red shirt with the white Flash symbol on it. “Wow! It even has his new em-embel-”

“Emblem?” Oliver finished. “That’s a big word, there.”

“Yeah, Emblem!” William agreed, nodding. “All the shirts has his old red symbol, but the new symbol is super cool! Where did you get this?”

“I have a few friends in manufacturing,” Oliver replied. 

William reached for the other present, then stopped. “This one doesn’t have your name on it.”

“You’re very observant,” Oliver said, not fighting the full-fledged grin that spread across his face. William beamed. “That is something a certain man in red wanted me to pass on to you.”

William tore off the packaging, and actually squealed. Oliver, curious to see what Barry got, leaned forward, and almost burst out laughing. 

Somehow, Barry had gotten his hands on a Green Arrow action figure. Oliver hadn’t known they sold these. 

The toy had an impressive amount of detail, although the little bit of face that could be seen under the hood and mask was pretty generic. Not that that was a bad thing, Oliver really didn’t want little toy copies of his face to be mass-produced. 

William had grabbed his Flash toy and thrusted it towards Oliver. “You can be the Flash this time,” he declared. “I wanna be Green Arrow!”

“Are they going to fight each other?”

William shook his head, picking up his Captain Cold action figure and heading towards the door. “Nope! The Flash and Green Arrow are superheroes. They fight bad guys together.” He turned around and called out, “Mom! Can you be Captain Cold?”

 

It’s not until Oliver got home and Googled “Green Arrow Action Figure” that he realizes that there isn’t any toy line that sells his alter-ego as a toy. There’s a petition, and a few homemade plushies on Etsy, but no actual action figure. 

So, out of curiosity, he called Barry to ask where he got his. 

“Oh, Iris gave me this Flash action figure for Christmas, but I felt a little weird owning a toy copy of myself- I mean, have you  _ seen  _ Toy Story? Anyway, she mentioned that there weren’t any Green Arrow action figures, so I whipped up a bit of acrylonitrile butadiene styrene in the lab and made one for William. I mean, a kid with a superhero for a parent has to have at least one piece of memorabilia, right?”

Oliver absorbed the information dump a lot better than he would have four years ago, used to deciphering nerd-speak from having Felicity on the comms all the time. “So, you made it?” He asked, more than a little impressed. 

“Yeah,” Barry said calmly, as if it was a normal thing for him to create lifelike imitations of his friends from scratch for their kids, whom he’s never even met before. “Did he like it?”

“Oh, he loved it,” Oliver replied. “Thanks, Barry.”

But really, Oliver thought as he hung up, Barry really was the kind of guy who would do that, and not expect anything in return. He reached into his pocket, where his mask, something created by the same person, lay. A small, unbidden but genuine smile crossed his face. 

  
  



End file.
